Month: November 2016

If you have about 17 minutes today, then I recommend you spend them watching this video of dialect coach Erik Singer analyzing movie accents. Accents are endlessly fascinating to me. And y’all know that I love a good critique. I appreciate that he provides lots of specific information; that bit appeals directly to my nerdy side.

Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on behalf of women.

How To Ruin Everything by George Watsky. I 100% purchased this book for two reasons: it has an amazing title and there is a review from Lin-Manuel Miranda on the front cover. Turns out these were solid reasons. I’m reading this probably as slowly as a human being can read any book, only making it through a handful of pages in bed every few nights, but I’m seriously enjoying it.

Watching…

Conviction. I have a handful of shows that I watch via network apps and this is one of them. The storylines are engaging, but what I am most enamoured with is Hayes Morrison, the lead character. She’s an anti-heroine of the first degree. And I love her. Hayley Atwell is killing it in this role. Oh, plus her wardrobe is a dream.

Listening…

Hiraeth, the new album from 100 Mile House. I’ve been a fan of 100 Mile House for many moons now, so I was tremendously excited to hear they were releasing something new. Stream it here right now: http://exclaim.ca/music/article/100_mile_house-hiraeth_album_stream?&utm_source=twitteren&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=entwitter

Still nothing. Still drowning in work. At one point in my life, when I was young and naïve, I thought that going to graduate school would mean I got to read things I enjoyed. Not true. If anyone ever tries to convince you of this, they are lying.

Watching…

Gilmore Girls. Always. Forever and always. I mean, I had to re-watch the series before the revival comes out at the end of November, right? Also, this is essential my comfort food of television shows. And when I can’t sleep because of insomnia, when I am having meltdowns, this is my favourite place to escape.

Listening…

“Sorrow” by The National. Because The National is always appropriate. And because I often turn to their albums in my times of great stress and anxiety. It helps me exist in the world a little better.

Sometimes something bothers me but I can’t articulate exactly why. And then someone else comes along and articulates it for me and I want to give them the best high five that has ever happened (ignoring, for the moment, that I am truly terrible at high fives). This Man Repeller article was one of those times. All-female reboots bothered me for…some reason I couldn’t quite identify. I didn’t want to see Ghostbusters, despite everyone talking about it, partly because I didn’t watch it as a kid so I had no nostalgic connection to the story, but also partly because…something about the entire endeavour felt off to me. I just didn’t know what. And then, a few months ago, Haley Nahman told me what in “My Problem With Ghostbusters and the All-Female Reboot“. I particularly like the last paragraph:

But those felt different. They weren’t remakes with a new representation angle unilaterally applied and marketed, a gimmick that’s hard for me to swallow regardless of the group swapped in. I can’t shake the feeling that these reboots are sloppy seconds, plain and simple. That the driving force behind them is patronizing and rooted in money while parading as feminist liberation.

Let’s write new stories.

Read it. I mean it. Read it. And then let’s do it. Let’s write some new stories.